CEBU CITY, Philippines - The Department of Trade and Industry in Cebu is organizing more value-adding seminars such as shelf-life training and marketing to encourage local government units (LGUs) and residents to pursue the One Town, One Product (OTOP) program.
DTI Cebu program management division chief Elias Tecson said they are focusing on five aspects — business counseling, skills and entrepreneurial training, product design and development, appropriate technology and marketing — to assist the municipalities.
“One area we need to look into is the improvement of the shelf-life of perishable products. At present, the longest shelf-life is one week,” he said.
In Negros Oriental, Tecson said Tanjay city has practiced “retort packaging” which increased the shelf life of budbud Tanjay between six months to one year.
“If Tanjay did it, there's no reason we cannot do the same for Mandaue City,” Tecson told Cebu Daily News.OTOP, a project of the national government, aims to bring livelihood opportunities and create enterprises in the countryside.
In Carmen town, nearly P7 million worth of woven sinamay was ordered by five major export companies between January and October 2008. These companies are Cebu-based companies Lilibeth Industries, Prisan International, Cebu Homecraft and JC Multicraft, and Taiwan-based Sun Yorkos.
“Carmen cannot even cope with the demand of these companies so we call other towns like Argao (southern Cebu) and Valencia (Negros Oriental) to meet the demand,” Tecson said.
Sinamay is woven abaca fiber used to make bags, hats and Filipiniana attire. There are 353 sinamay weavers and 671 knotters in Carmen town.
The municipality of Carmen, through the United Carmenanons Multipurpose Cooperative (Ucamco), was one of the 160 exhibitors during the recent 3rd One Town, One Product (OTOP) Visayas Island Fair at SM City Cebu.
This number is higher than last year's 140 exhibitors. The fair was participated by different provinces from Western, Central and Eastern Visayas.
Tecson said Carmen is one of the nine towns in Cebu province, which serves as successful benchmark municipalities for Otop implementation in Cebu. “There is a strong domestic market for Otop products. We are doing benchmarks so that other LGUs can appreciate the improvement the people in the town have experienced because of this program,” he said. |
